The Story of God
Introduction
This Sunday we are beginning a study of some of our favorite Old Testament Bible stories. And of course the best place to start is the beginning, the book of Genesis and the creation account.
Over the years I have heard numerous reasons given for why Christians don’t need to study the Old Testament. I have heard Christians say, “We are the people of the New Covenant. Why do we need to study about the Old Covenant? We are New Testament Christians. The Old Testament has passed away. It doesn’t apply to us today.”
It is almost as if people think that there are two different gods. The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. The God of judgment and the God of mercy and love. But we need to understand that there is only one God. That God is the same yesterday, today and forever. So what we can learn about God in the Old Testament is still true in the New Testament.
And we also ought to realize that the Bible that Jesus and the Apostles used was the Old Testament. When you read the sermons in the book of Acts, they are full of Old Testament references. They proved that Jesus was the Messiah through the Old Testament. And of all the books of the Old Testament, Genesis is quoted the most often. It is quoted over 200 times in the New Testament.
Genesis means beginning. In the pages of the book of Genesis we have the beginning of the universe and the world. We have the beginning of mankind, marriage and family. We have the beginning of worship. And we have the beginning of some things that are not so good. Such as the beginning of murder, sin and betrayal. So we probably are going to spend more time in the book of Genesis than in any other Old Testament book.
But before we can begin to talk about the beginning we need to talk about what existed before the beginning.
I. The Nature of God.
Genesis 1:1 (NLT)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
In verse one the universe and our world is created. Verse one marks the beginning. Not just the beginning of our world, but the beginning of everything. Time, space and matter all come into being in verse one. And so you might think that nothing existed before verse one of Genesis. But something did exist. Or I should say, Someone existed.
Notice the first 4 words of Genesis 1:1.
Genesis 1:1 (NLT)
In the beginning God…
God existed before the beginning.
John 1:1-4 (NLT)
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.
God already existed before the beginning. God is eternal. He has no beginning or end. God is infinite. He has no limitations in either time or space. For He is the creator of both. There was a time when neither time, space or matter existed. But there has never been a time when God has not existed. As King David said:
1 Chronicles 16:36 (NLT)
Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting! And all the people shouted “Amen!” and praised the LORD.
Abraham planted a tree in honor of the eternal God that he worshipped in Genesis chapter 21. Moses said:
Deuteronomy 33:26-27 (NLT)
There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor. The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. He drives out the enemy before you; he cries out, ‘Destroy them!’
And the Apostle Paul proclaimed that we worship the same everlasting, eternal God.
1 Timothy 1:17 (NLT)
All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.
So the God that we worship is the all-powerful, everlasting God, who existed before time, before creation and through whom everything came to exist. But what does that do for us? Why do we need to understand these facts about God? It is not so that we know just a bit of trivia about God. God gives us this information for a reason. He gives us this information so that we can have confidence that He is able to help us in our times of trouble.
Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
When we need God the most we can be confident, not just that we can go to God, but that He can help us in our times of trouble. As Moses said in the passage that we looked at in Deuteronomy chapter 33.
Deuteronomy 33:26-27 (NLT)
There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor. The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. He drives out the enemy before you; he cries out, ‘Destroy them!’
God’s everlasting arm is under you. He drives the enemy before you. He cries out destroy them. What a powerful prayer verse. What if we all prayed like this was true? What if we prayed like the Everlasting, Eternal, All-Powerful God was on our side? Would that make a difference in how we pray?
One of my favorite passages about God’s power is Isaiah chapter 40.
Isaiah 40:10-12 (NLT)
Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?
Do we dare pray weak defeated prayers when the One who can measure the oceans in the palm of His hand, the One who can measure the whole universe with the span between His fingers, is on our side. Remember that when you pray. Remember that when you pray for others. Is there any disease, any cancer, any problem that can defeat the Almighty Everlasting God?
That is the God Paul had in mind when he said:
Philippians 4:13 (NLT)
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
II. One God.
But there is more to God’s story than just His eternal nature. This next point sets the Christian faith apart from all other religions. First, we need to understand that there is only One God. In Genesis chapter 1, every verb that is used is singular. Why? Because there is only One God.
This fact was so important to the Jewish people that they recited what they called the “Shema” every day. And faithful Jewish people still recite the Shema every day today. What is the Shema? It is Deuteronomy chapter 6:4-5 that says:
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NLT)
Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.
Jesus quoted the Shema. When the Pharisees were testing Jesus they asked Him what the most important commandment was.
Mark 12:29-30 (NKJV)
Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.
Jesus said that the most important fact about our faith is that there is only one God. He said that we should believe this with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. And most of the trouble that Israel got into in the Old Testament was because they forgot this fact. They began to show respect for the religions of those around them. And then they began to believe that those other so-called gods were just as valid as their God.
Because they forgot that there is only One God, God punished them time and time again. He allowed armies of foreign nations to invade the Promised Land. He even allowed them to destroy the Temple and carry off all the precious objects of the Temple. Then He allowed these foreign kings to carry His people into captivity for 70 years. All because they had forgotten that there is only one God.
We need to learn a lesson from Israel. I don’t know how many times I have had Christians tell me that I needed to respect the faith and religions of non-Christians. No I don’t. And neither should you. We need to jealously hold on to the fact that our God is the only God. The god “little g” of all the other religions is Satan. That is what the Word of God says. And if we continue to show respect for the gods of other religions, if we continue to give validity to other religions, then America will suffer the same consequences as Israel. For God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
III. Three Persons.
So one of the things that sets us apart from all other religions is the fact that our God is the only God. The second thing that sets us apart from other religions is that our God manifests Himself in three persons. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now I am not saying that God takes on different forms. There are some who believe that sometimes God is the Father, sometimes God is the Son and sometimes God is the Holy Spirit. That is an old false belief.
No. Our God is three forms all the time at the same time. We see that in the creation. All three of the persons of God were at work in creating everything. We see this in what we call the “Let Us” passages of Scripture in the book of Genesis. For example:
Genesis 1:26 (NLT)
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like ourselves. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
The word God here is singular. The verbs in this passage of Scripture are all singular. But God says “Let us.” Who is the us?
The first part of the us is the Father. The Father is the one who made the decision to create. But God the Holy Spirit was there as well.
Genesis 1:2 (NLT)
The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
So both God the Father and the Holy Spirit were involved in creation. But what about the Son.
Hebrews 1:2 (NLT)
And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.
God the Father created the Universe through God the Son—Jesus Christ. We see Jesus all over the Old Testament. He is often called “The Angel of the Lord” in the Old Testament. Jesus makes an appearance 8 times just in the book of Genesis. Jesus is the Eternal God just as the Holy Spirit and the Father are. And what is the Son’s job. To do whatever the Father wants Him to do. As Jesus said:
John 4:34 (NLT)
My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.
Conclusion
And what is the will and work of the Father. And this is the most important point of this whole sermon. The will and the work of the Father is to save us.
Colossians 1:19-20 (NLT)
For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
We are the ultimate objects of God’s love. God didn’t need the physical universe. God didn’t need the world and He didn’t need us. But God wanted to pour all of the power of His love into mankind. That is why God created us. He created us to love us. And God’s ultimate expression of love is His Only Begotten Eternal Son on the Cross. Through the Son God sacrificed Himself so that we might be saved.
Do you know what that means? It means that this whole universe—all of creation—is focused on one thing: Your salvation. This world was created so that you might be saved. Jesus came to this earth so that you might be saved. Jesus died on a cross so that you might be saved. All of creation is focused on your decision. Do you choose to follow Jesus Christ? Do you choose to make Him your Savior? Do you choose to accept His sacrifice for you? That is how important you are to God. Is God that important to you?
